Intro

Welcome to our Big News section for all the latest news concerning Military Disability.

We'll do our best to keep you up to date on everything that could affect your disability. Since the majority of our news will cover legal issues that can be dragged out for a long time, if you'd like an update on an issue, let us know, and we'll do what we can.

Please feel free to comment and submit questions. We want to give you the information you need, so help us by letting us know what you want to know.

Monday, July 20, 2015

As of this date, 23 states and the District of Columbia have
legalized the use of medical marijuana. Each state has their own list of conditions
that are approved for treatment by medical marijuana, but these lists vary
widely from one state to the next. Many of these states are now seeing a push
to add Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the list of approved conditions
for treatment with medical marijuana, but this is causing growing concern among
physicians and regulators.

While few studies exist and no scientific proof has been
found that medical marijuana is an effective treatment for any condition,
studies have found that medical
marijuana in the treatment of PTSD could actually make the condition worse. A
2014 study conducted by physicians and researchers at the Yale University
School of Medicine showed that the use of medical marijuana to treat PTSD in
veterans “was significantly associated with worse outcomes in PTSD symptom
severity, violent behavior, and measures of alcohol and drug use.” The study
concluded that “marijuana may actually worsen PTSD symptoms and nullify the
benefits of specialized, intensive treatment.”

In June, the White House announced that they would be
lifting a regulation limiting the ability to conduct scientific research on the
development, use, and affects of medical marijuana. Currently, there are no
strict regulations on the production of medical marijuana, causing a huge
disparity between the quality of each batch. Additionally, marijuana contains
more than 400 compounds, the effects of which have not been fully studied. Hopefully
this policy change will allow more concrete evidence to surface that will lead
to the safer and more regulated production and use of medical marijuana for
conditions that truly do benefit from its use as a treatment.

While medical marijuana is not recommended as a treatment
for PTSD, proven treatments do exist. The VA’s National Center for PTSD, www.ptsd.va.gov, provides many valuable
resources for the treatment of PTSD. Help is available.

Monday, July 13, 2015

A new bill introduced in the Senate last month is aimed at
streamlining and expanding VA efforts to increase staffing and provide timely
care. The Delivering Opportunities for Care and Services for Veterans (DOCS for
Veterans) Act comes at a time when the VA is struggling to provide speedier
access to care as well as increasing availability of certain types of care,
such as mental health care, for veterans in rural areas.

The VA is still falling behind in reducing appointment wait
times for veterans. While the VA was making some progress in reducing wait
times, they have experienced such an unexpected increase in veterans needing
care that efforts to decrease those wait times have actually lost ground over
the last year. The VA had 2.7 million more appointments this past year
than in any previous year and authorized 900,000 of those veterans to seek care
from outside providers. This bill aims to authorize additional funding for more
providers and make it easier and faster for the VA to get them on board.

The DOCS for Veterans Act would also provide increased
mental health care aimed at reducing the high suicide rate among veterans. As
we reported last November, an average of 22 veterans a day are tragically
choosing to end their lives. To help increase access to mental health care, the
VA would be authorized to recruit more doctors, nurses, physician assistants
and mental health care providers, especially in rural areas. This bill would
also establish a VA Nurses Advice Line which would target rural veterans and
provide medical advice, eligibility and benefits information, as well as help
with scheduling appointments.

The DOCS for Veterans Act is backed by many veterans’
organizations, such as the American Legion, AMVETS, and the National Guard
Association of the US, among others, as well as many mental health
organizations. We will keep you informed about its progress through the
hallowed halls of Congress.

Monday, July 6, 2015

A bill was introduced in the House on May 12 aimed at
providing additional reproductive treatment for eligible disabled veterans. If
this bill is passed, the VA will provide In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to
couples who have not been able to conceive due to the veteran’s service-connected
disability.

IVF is the process where eggs and sperm are combined outside
the body in a laboratory, and the resulting embryos, usually at least 3 at a
time, are then implanted in the uterus, hopefully resulting in a pregnancy. IVF
is a complex and very expensive procedure and is never the first choice of
treatment for infertility. In fact, it’s usually the “last resort” treatment
choice, after other methods such as fertility drugs, surgery, or artificial
insemination have been tried.

To be eligible for IVF under this bill, a veteran must be
enrolled in the VA Health Care System and have a service-connected disability
that includes an injury to the reproductive organs or spinal cord that directly
results in infertility without medical assistance, or be the spouse of such a
veteran.

The VA would be limited to providing no more than 3 IVF
cycles, resulting in no more than 6 implantation attempts. In addition, the VA
would cover cryogenic (frozen) storage of unused embryos for no more than 3
years, after which time the veteran would be responsible for further storage
costs. The VA would not be able to provide any benefits to a surrogate or be
able to provide any help in obtaining a third-party donor.

This bill has only recently been introduced and is still in
committee. We will keep watch on it and let you know when progress is made.

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About Me

As a retired Air Force Colonel and physician, I am a Military Disability and VA Disability specialist. As a physician, I have specialties in preventive medicine, occupational medicine, and healthcare administration. While on active duty, I had direct responsibility over preventive medicine for all military members in deployed environments and contingency operations. Since retiring, I have worked as a contractor for the Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR), reviewing military disability cases, and for the VA, performing C&P exams.